Burke: We're so smart, why do some deny what they've seen?

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

By Tom Burke / Herald columnist

I bought a new computer last week. My laptop was teetering on the brink of oblivion and I figured it would be smarter to replace it now, rather than try to recover my data after its demise.

So I found a guy, a really smart, highly-recommended guy (Jeff Chapman from Greenlight Techs in Bothell) to help me choose the precise model I needed and then do the install.

-snip-

And as I write this I am still amazed at how smart, how really, really smart, people are. Not just Jeff, but the whole internet/worldwide web thing, which is, of course, too wonderous to truly comprehend. And I’ve come to terms with how other folks figured out how a bunch of little excited electrons and some ones and zeroes can make words appear on a page as I type (and correct my spelling as I go along).

All of which causes me much despair and sends me plummeting into a fit of semi-depression.

Because what dismays me is — if there are all these smart people who can design computers or invent the internet — why are so many dunderheads in the Republican Party?

Like all the R’s who believe The Big Lie; 70 percent of Republicans believe Joe Biden didn’t win the election.

Like why 55 percent of GOP House members refuse vaccination? Or why wearing a mask, to save your own life and the lives of others if you haven’t been vaccinated, is some sort of abridgment of freedom?

https://www.heraldnet.com/opinion/burke-were-so-smart-why-do-some-deny-what-theyve-seen/

[wcmagumba]

1. I'm with you, all I can figure out is these folks may be smart in technology but lacking

in critical thinking areas or plain old common sense...they prefer being led (along with a heavy dose of hate and fear) by others rather than thinking for themselves. I worked in pc support for a number of years and found many people working in those areas to be extremely right wing, though competent in the tech skills requiring college degrees and other training/certification they were missing out (imo) on empathy, moral awareness and the ability to parse language for misleading and dishonest intent. I have been unable to understand individuals like this, whether the cause might be upbringing, social (xian) cults or just missing out on some genetic material allowing for critical thinking...

[Hugh_Lebowski]

2. I believe it's because political leanings are instinctual/genetic and largely separate from

intelligence.

I know a number of very smart, very right-wing people.

But they have a huge blind spot when it comes to politics. Their intelligence gets shut off, basically, and their views are based on instincts and fears.

Similar to how there are two viable reproductive strategies for male animals (you can either pair-bond and help the mother raise your young, or you can try to screw everything that moves and play the numbers game), individuals generally also have two main strategies to promote the survival of a species.

These are:
1) Help your 'pack' to survive and in some cases place its needs above your own.
2) Keep yourself alive/taken care of first and foremost no matter what.

Individuals of both types are born within packs because there is a survival advantage overall to having both types of individuals.

The second type is a MUCH more primitive and ancient instinct, and more deeply seated.

There's also a wide range of what individuals humans perceive as being 'their pack'. Liberals are capable and even prone toward thinking of 'all life' as being 'their pack'. That is a completely foreign concept to conservatives. To them, their pack is more like a wolf pack, or pride of lions, and all living things they perceive as outside that pack ... are enemies. It's largely wired into them, but it also taught/affirmed in their lives by others like them.

[vanlassie]

3. They are not smart. I never realized how truly vacuous

And uneducated so many of my neighbors are. They don’t read. They only watch garbage TV and Fox News. They go to authoritarian mega churches. They literally have NO IDEA how smart other people are. Not a friggin clue. They know the Covid vax is bad, but they have no inkling about how much of a miracle it is that we got it so fast. Or what science was involved. And they think all inventions come from the USA, by the way. They never travel.

[brush]

5. Yep, Pfizer, an American corp partner with a Turkish immigrant company in Germany...

which developed its vaccine. So many Americans seem to want to stay uniformed. We're number 1

[Midnight Writer]

4. Just read this morning that US college enrollment down 6.8% this year.

Decline is among poor and working class Americans who either cannot afford it or don't think the price tag is worth it.

The path to a prosperous, healthy future for our country will be paved with innovation.

I hate to believe we are willing to cede our prospects just to cater to our capitalist system.

[Faux pas]

6. ...

Ignorance is a choice because it's easier than critical thinking or doing some research. And, it's only blissful for the ignorant